China and weapons of mass destruction
| People's Republic of China | |
|---|---|
| First nuclear weapon test | October 16, 1964 |
| First thermonuclear weapon test | December 28, 1966 |
| Last nuclear test | July 29, 1996 |
| Largest yield test | 4 Mt
|
| Current stockpile | 600 (estimated) |
| Maximum missile range | 15,000 km |
| NPT party | Yes (1992, one of five recognized powers) |
The People's Republic of China has developed and possesses weapons of mass destruction, including chemical and nuclear weapons. The first of China's nuclear weapons tests took place in 1964, and its first hydrogen bomb test occurred in 1966 at Lop Nur. Tests continued until 1996, when the country signed the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT), but did not ratify it. China acceded to the Biological Weapons Convention (BWC) in 1984 and ratified the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) in 1997. Since 2020, China has been wielding a nuclear triad, alongside three other countries.
The number of nuclear warheads in China's arsenal is a state secret. There are varying estimates of the size of China's arsenal. The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists and the Federation of American Scientists estimated in 2025 that China has a stockpile of approximately 600 nuclear warheads, while the United States Department of Defense put the estimate at more than 600 operational nuclear warheads, making it the third-largest in the world.
In 1964, China adopted a policy of no-first-use (NFU), which it continues to have as of 2025.: 108–109 Some of its nuclear forces are reported to have moved toward a launch on warning (LOW) posture in the early 2020s.